Fifteen Senators from the Opposition Political Parties were the only Lawmakers from the Upper Chambers that voted against the Senate’s decision to retain a manual backup option in the electronic transmission of election results under Clause 60 of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
However, 55 senators voted to retain the manual fallback option, making the total number that participated in the process to be 70.
This followed a division called by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe during clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, which saw all all APC Senators suoporting the proviso in Clause 60(3), which allows manual transmission of results where network failure occurs.
The Opposition Lawmakers who voted insisted on compulsory real-time electronic transmission without exceptions include: Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South), Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), Aminu Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto South), Ireti Kingibe (ADC, FCT) and Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West)
Others are: Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central), Onawo Ogwoshi (ADC, Nasarawa South), Tony Nwoye (LP, Anambra North), Victor Umeh (APGA, Anambra Central), and Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP, Gombe Central)
The rest are: Austin Akobundu (PDP, Abia Central), Khalid Mustapha (PDP, Kaduna North), Sikayo Yaro (PDP, Gombe South), Emmanuel Nwachukwu (APGA, Anambra South) and Peter Jiya (PDP, Niger South)
By this outcome, the Senate has again upheld its position that where network failure occurs, manually signed result sheets will serve as the primary source of election results, a position that many Nigerians and Rights groups have kicked against.
